Stories

The Parliamentary Committee on Health in Slovenia has approved proposed amendments concerning tobacco-related products. The amendments, endorsed by the members of parliament, primarily focus on vaping, leading to the prohibition of all flavours except tobacco, including menthol flavour. [...] The consumer organisation in Slovenia also expressed criticism towards the amendments: “The new legislation is deemed harmful, unethical, immoral, and discriminatory. Its sole consequence is the limitation of access to vaping for those who need it the most - former smokers and individuals attempting to quit. Meanwhile, smoking rates in Slovenia persist at a staggering 20%.”

MARK BUTLER HAS INTRODUCED his vaping Bill to Parliament. If I were a member of Parliament, I would oppose the Bill. The current regulatory model has failed and will only get worse with the proposed changes. [...] The reality is that vaping is here to stay whether we like it or not and it needs to be regulated better. A better regulatory model is for nicotine vaping products to be sold as adult consumer products from licensed retail outlets with strict age verification, like tobacco and alcohol.

The French, parliament reached an agreement on Thursday (21 March) to ban so-called ‘puffs’, single-use electronic cigarettes. The prohibition will be expected to come into force, at the end of September, according to Green MP Francesca Pasquini, who initiated the law. The text was widely adopted by the National Assembly in December and then ratified by the French Senate in February. The final stage was to convene a joint committee, bringing together members of parliament from both chambers. The committee reached a joint text without difficulty.

In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted its first treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which was intended to act as an international legal agreement to apply tobacco control initiatives globally. This treaty was aimed at reducing the use of tobacco products and reducing the impact of combustible products on public health. The primary driver of establishing the FCTC was the prediction that, if allowed to continue unchecked, the number of lives lost globally per year from smoking-related disease would grow from 3.5 million lives (in 1998) to 10 million deaths per year by 2030.

Despite extensive regulatory barriers and massive misinformation on relative risk, consumers are transitioning from cigarettes to safer nicotine products at an extraordinary pace. In today’s episode tobacco control policy expert David Sweanor guides us through the remarkable growth of the U.S. vaping market and issues a warning to those who seek to stand in the way.

People who vape suffer similar changes to their DNA as smokers who develop cancer, researchers have revealed. Scientists at University College London analysed samples of cheek cells from vape users and compared these with those from cigarette smokers. Both groups had similar changes to the DNA of cells in their mouth. These changes were, in turn, linked to the future development of lung cancer in smokers.

Illinois lawmakers are considering two bills aimed at blocking children and teenagers from obtaining and concealing electronic cigarettes. One bill would ban e-cigarettes that are designed to look like objects commonly carried by schoolchildren, such as highlighters and markers, and therefore not spotted for what they actually are by adults. “We should do everything in our power to make it impossible for children to obtain and conceal tobacco products,” state Sen. Julie Morrison, a Deerfield Democrat who is co-sponsoring the bill that would ban the marketing of vapes that might be mistaken by adults for something else, said at a news conference in Springfield on Tuesday.

Scientists in Austria found evidence that smoking e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes have a similar effect on cells. The University of Innsbruck published the study in the journal, Cancer Research, analyzing the molecular effects of tobacco and e-cigarettes on the epigenome of the information in various cells. They said the epigenome can change during a lifetime due to various genetic and non-genetic factors, such as aging or lifestyle. Scientists looked at more than 5,300 samples from 4,000 people for indications about how smoking cigarettes and e-cigarettes affects different cells. They included blood samples, mouth swabs and samples from the cervical area of women.

Poland’s Ministry of Health is working on a bill banning the sale of disposable e-cigarettes, with a view to having the legislation ready in April, the health minister, Izabela Leszczyna, said on Thursday. Leszczyna was asked at a press conference when the law, which was announced in late February, would be ready. “I discussed this subject exactly a month ago with the prime minister and got the green light,” she said, adding that single-use e-cigarettes are currently “the greatest threat, especially to young people,” who under existing laws should not be allowed to buy them.

More than 75pc of vapers say a ban of flavouring could lead to more young people smoking, with one in five ex-smokers saying they would also pick the habit back up if flavours were banned. It has been an offence to sell a nicotine-inhaling product to someone under the age of 18 since December, with Government plans for a restriction on the use of flavouring set to follow. A new survey from Red C Research and Marketing shows 90pc of vapers surveyed believe an overall ban could lead to a black market for flavoured vapes. Almost half said they would source flavours from outside Ireland if it was introduced, with 71pc believing smokers would be less inclined to take up vaping to quit.